Winding mechanism for moving-picture machines.



c. R. UEBBLMESVS'AER;

WINDING MECHANISM FOR MOVING PICTURE MAGHINES.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 5 1808.

Patented Aug; 22, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEI5T 1.

v 0. R. UEBELMESSER. WINDING MEGHANISM 130R MOVING PICTURE MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 5, 1908.

1,001,098. Patented Aug. 22, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WiTNESSES: INVENTOR Q ZV XZ V/ ATTERNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 7,

CHARLES R. UEBELMESSER, OF NEW YORK, N. 'Y., ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN MOVING.

PICTURE MACHINE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N.'Y., A CORPORATTON OF NEW YORK.

WINDING MECHANISM FOR MOVING-PICTURE MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 2-2, 1911.

Application filed October 5, 1908. Seria1 No. 6,252.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES R. Unmanimssnu, a subject of the Emperor of Ger-- many, and a resident of the city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, United States of America, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Winding hlechanism for Moving-Picture Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a winding .apparatus forinoving picture machines, and its ohiect is to improve upon such devices as have heretofore been used for this purpose, and to provide a simple device by means of which a film, after it has passed through the machine, may be evenly wound up or coiled without the danger of being strained or otherwise injured.

in the following specification I will describe the construction and operation of a winding apparatus made according to my invention and will point out the novel fcatnrcs thereof in the a ppcndcd claims.

.lictcrrin; to the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of a portion of a moving picture machine withmy invention applied thereto. Fig. is a front elevation of the same apparatus. in Figs. 3 and la modified form of my invention is shown in front elevation and plan view, respectively.

Like'cl'nnacters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the figures.

10 designates the frame of a moving picture machine which is arranged to move a,

fihn 11, upon which a series of pictures in succeeding positions appear, across a fixed line of vision, so that thepictures thereon are presented in rapid succession.

12 is a reel supporting the film and rotatahly mounted upon a part of the machine.

The film is passed bet." 'een guiding rolls 13 and over driving rolls 14, the flanges of which are provided with teeth arranged to mesh with holes .in the sides of the film which are provided for this purpose. *1

15is a crank by means of which a shaft 16 is rotated. This shaft, through suitable gearing 17, is arranged to drive the various parts of such an apparatus, as has been above pointed out. The shaft 1 6 may obyiously be driven by a motor if desired.

The various parts of the mechanism which I have above briefly described form no part of the present invention, and as in various structures to' which my invention may be greatly vary, I believe that a further description of such parts would be unneces--- sary.

20 designates a shaft which is driven by.

' applied the details of the mechanism might I the mechanism above described. Upon this.

shaft :1 sprocket-wheel 21 is rigidly mounted. An arm 22 is pivotally supported upon the shaft 20. This arm carries on its out-er.

end a sprocket-wheel 23 which is connected be'driven by means of the chain gearing above pointed out.

3O designates a receptacle for the film in the central portion of which a hub 32 is pivotally supported upon a fixed shaft-.31. Upon this hub the film 11 is arranged tobe wound up into a film coil-'11 aftcrit has been passed through the machine by the ordinary mechanism. The driving spool 25 is provided with a fl attract-ivc surface-of resilintmateri-al such as rubber, of a width slightly greater than the film 11. Ateither side of this surface it is provided with flanges 26, 26 which are arranged to pass over the sides of the film to guide the latter.

It may be seen that when the moving picture apparatus is operated to drive the film in the usual manner, that the driving spool 25 will be rotated. The parts are so arranged and proportioned that the peripheral speed of the traetive surface of thisiitatter to be-drawn along "and at the same time will cause the hub 32 to gbejrotated.

At the beginning of this operation the diamcter, of the film'coil ll 'upon the hub 32 will be small so that'its rate of rotation will be comparatively high. -As thediameter of the film coil 11 increases, however, its rate of rotation willdecrcase as the peripheral. speed of the filmcoil will always remain the same. The arm- 22 is arranged to swing freely about the shaft 20 so, that the drivs ing spool 25 will always rest upon the top of the film-coill]. upon the hub,32, under the action of gravity and re ardless of, the

size of the film iijoil. It may e seen that in this simple mannei the film coil 11 will be "rotated at different rates of speeds but its cannot be mutilated thereby, nor 'can the 4 film be strained by the receiving c'oil being -rotated too'rapidly. In other apparatus of this kind the receiving hub or reel upon which the coil is received, is driven from a shaft having aspeed proportional to that of the actuating mechanism of the machine, but not proportional to thediamcter of the film .coil, and it is necessary in such cases to provide a. slipping friction device to prevent the receiving reel from: being driven too rapidly. Such devices, however, depend for their slipping effect upon a strain on the film itself, which often becomes great enough to cause damage. In the present invention this difliculty is entirely eliminated.

. In the device shown in Figs. 3 and 4 theshaft 20 is provided near its outer end with a bevel gear 40 which is in mesh with a similar bevel gear 41 upon the end of a trans- I mission shaft 42. This shaft is supported by a frame 43 which is pivotally supported upon the end of shaft 20 as at 44. The outer end of transmission sha t 42 termir nates in a frame 45 which carries an idle roller 46.- This roller is arranged to rest upon the top of the film coil 11 and to thereby support the outer end of transmission shaft 42. Depending from" the frame 45 is a shaft 47, the upper end of which is connected with the transmission shaft 42 through bevel gears 48, and this shaft carries a friction drive-wheel 49. In this case the hub 32 is connected with a disk 33 with which the friction drive-wheel 49 coacts to rotate the hub 32 upon which the film is to be wound. The hub and-disk are rotatahly mounted on a fixed shaft 31.

' The operation of this form of-iny invention is as. follows: When the apparatus is started, one end of the film is attached to the hub 32, as before described. The idle roller 46, resting upon the top of the film on the hub' 32, will determine the position of the 49 will be rotated in proportion to the speed of the movin' picture machine mechanism,

. this friction rive-wheel 49 will now rotate the disk 33 andtlie hub 32 with'which'itis connected at. a comparativelyhigh rate of k. 4;

speed, imparting to it a peripheral speed equal to or slightly greater than the lineal speed of the film as it comes out .of the machine. As the film is wound up upon the hub 32,-the roller 46 will be raised'thereby and this will gradually move the friction drive-wheel 49 away from' the center of shaft 31, thereby causing the latter to herotated at a slower rate. These parts are so proportioned that the peripheral speed of the film coil will always be the same, thereby causing the film to be wound up under an equal amount of tension during all parts of the operation. I

The invention herein described has many advantages over those heretofore in use, as

it not only avoids the danger of straining and breaking the film present in former apparatus for this purpose, but it also lays the film evenly as it is coiled up, without putting pressure upon its surface, which might scratch or otherwise injure the pictures on the film.

I have illustrated more than one form of my invention to show that it is not limited to any specific form or construction, but that the principle thereof may be embodied in different mechanisms,

'What I claim is.-'

1. In combination with a moving picture machine having a film-driving mechanism,a winding mechanism comprising a rotatable hub upon which a film may be wound into a coil, a stationary spindle upon which said hub is loosely mounted; an arm pivoted near one of its ends. a driving roller at the other end thereof, and mechanism arranged to transmit the movement of the film-driv- 1 of its ends. a sprocket-wheel at the pivoted end thereof, said sprocket-wheel being conncctcd with the film-driving mechanism na driving roller at theothcr end of said arm, said roller being arranged to engage the outer layer of film upon said huh. a sprockctwheel connected with. the driving roller. and

a sprocket'chain connecting the two sprocketwheels. i

In testimony whereof I have signed my name. to this specificat-ion in the presence of two subscribing witnes es.

CHARLES R. IIEBELMESSER; Witnesses: a

ELLA TUon. Emqns'r W. M ARSH'ALL. 

